Specifications:Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new 18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC. This zoom lens was exclusively designed for use with digital Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras and has 6.9 times high magnification zoom ratio. Image circle is designed to match the size of the image sensor of digital SLR cameras. A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) and two pieces of aspherical glass elements produce high level of optical performance through the entire zoom range and also this has resulted in a compact, lightweight lens. This lens has a minimum focusing distance of 50cm (19.6in.) at all focal lengths and equipped with inner focusing system. Since the front of the lens does not rotate, "Petal Shaped Hood" and a circular polarizing filter can be easily attached and used. This lens is also equipped with "Zoom Lock Switch" that eliminates "Zoom Creep."

Not a bad lens, but I would put my money towards a better lens. It is fairly cheap, lightweight, and has a nice focal range coverage. But the image quality is poor on my D50.

Aug 30, 2008

mrphotomanOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Jul 27, 2003Location: United StatesPosts: 30

Review Date: May 15, 2008

Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 1

Pros:

Light weight

Cons:

Terrible lens, corner of lens is so soft it is unusable. From 18mm-50mm the left side of the lens has horrible softness and distortion. From 50mm and up it is mediocre at best. Typical of sigma lenses, when you buy these cheap lenses you get crap.

Terrible lens, corner of lens is so soft it is unusable. From 18mm-50mm the left side of the lens has horrible softness and distortion. From 50mm and up it is mediocre at best. Typical of sigma lenses, when you buy these cheap lenses you get crap.

I would stay away from this junk. Every sigma lens I have owned has been terrible.

May 15, 2008

Wil FryOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Nov 19, 2007Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: Nov 19, 2007

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $375.00
| Rating: 9

Pros:

Fast AF, Zoom range, Sharpness on long end

Cons:

Loud AF, softness on wide end

I was surprised to see some of the negative reviews of this lens, but then realized people were comparing it to "L" lenses. It's not an L lens, but it's been extremely useful to me, and gives a lot of bang for the buck.

It's extremely sharp at the long end (rivaling the most expensive zooms around), and not as soft on the wide end as some would have you believe. At the wide end (18-35mm), its level of sharpness would compare to Canon's EF-S 18-55mm "kit lens" which isn't ideal, but still not horrible.

There are days when this lens will stay on my camera all day, mostly due to the excellent zoom range -- 18mm is wide enough for just about anything, while 125mm is long enough for most uses. No changing lenses here.

Focus: It doesn't have USM or Sigma's "HSM" equivalent, but it's about as fast as you can get without those extra motors. I use the lens for basketball shots (with flash), and it focuses quickly and accurately. Yes, it's loud, but that doesn't mean it's slow.

Softness: When using this lens wider than 35mm or so, it's still sharp, but only if your subject is relatively close. Farther away than 10 feet or so, the lens seems to hunt for focus at times, but will take the shot anyway. This accounts for the "softness" at wide angles -- it's actually just the lens being slightly out of focus, in my opinion (because it's really sharp if the subject is up close).

Bokeh: At the long end (80-125mm), this lens can produce great bokeh (out-of-focus circles in the background), depending on subject.

Nov 19, 2007

kool100vr4OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Apr 23, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: Nov 17, 2007

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $100.00
| Rating: 8

Pros:

A great everyday lens.

Cons:

A little noisy AF.

I finally bought this lens used in excel condition like new for 100usd, to use on my Sony A100, with my Sony this lens will be come optical image stabilizer at all time, thats the best avantage to own Sony dslr, the lens is well built, made in Japan, small and light weigh, focus is exceptional fast, but a little noisy, filter size at 62mm, comes with matching petal hood, i tested shot it about 300 shots by now, i can see that at wide angle @18mm images are good, sharpness is fine, nice contrast, but from 35-125mm images are even sharper, images turn out great, good detail contrast and nice colors, now! im not sure its from the lens or camera, or both, but im very happy with it..
I am sorry for those whos wrote neg reviews on this Sigma lens, either he or she got a bad copy or the camera body, or dont know how to use it right?, buy Sony camera body or Fujis then you will be alright, i havent had a bad lens to use with my Sony at all. Infact, i have sold all my Nikon and Canon lenses to stick with Sigmas and Tamrons, im not saying Sigma is better lenses, im saying that Sigma is a better buy ( Sigma is the biggest camera lens maker factory in the world)i trust them and like them, the other lenses are over price and you cant really tell the diff in image quality in everyday use.
With this range 18-125mm you can really use it at all time..i like Sigma choice in lens ranges, they do make all diff ranges, i used to carried 2 lenses on vac, now i can use only 1 lens.
Happy camper!

IQ is on par with the 18-55 kit lens but with an enhanced focal range. Like any 7x zoom, the lens is slow so you have to use proper technique (at least 1/focal length and bump up the ISO) to keep images sharp. If you understand its limitations, the lens works well for outdoor travel/casual photos.

I have not had trouble with AF. AF is a little noisy, but I use it almost exclusively outdoors in an urban environment so I don't really notice it. In terms of AF noise, I think it's similar to the Tamron 28-75 and it's not as loud as my Canon 28 2.8. Build quality is pretty good, better than the kit lens, and I like the zoom lock feature.

If you can pick one up on the used market, this is a decent placeholder until Canon introduces an image stabilized focal length equivalent.

Oct 15, 2007

Chris JoergOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Apr 4, 2007Location: GermanyPosts: 0

Review Date: Apr 9, 2007

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 6

Pros:

Image quality if you mind price, size and weight.

Cons:

Autofocus is loud, slow and due to f 5,6 at the long end inaccurate in low light situations.

The sigma 18-125 won't do the job if you are looking for the image of your life. If you look at the zoom-range and the price this has to be like this. It has a quite loud, even screeching autofocus which is often inaccurate, especially in low light situations. The autofocus is also slow. Fast tracking is very hard to do. It has some minor cromatic aberrations. The vignetting is even at full opened f-stops acceptable. (You need to turn up the vignetting correction in adobe's raw converter up to ca. 25 to get rid of them, but this is really not a problem)

Very nice is the low price. It has THE perfect zoom range for travel / walkaround. It's quite sharp at f 8. There you can get quite decent results even when you are a censorius amateur. It does a "good" job for all day family & friends snap shooting.

If you buy it, you can do nothing wrong. Buy it, start taking pictures and have fun. It's not the lens, it's not the body, it is your point of view that makes the shot.

Please have a look at my website. ALL pictures are taken with the 18-125 and an Canon EOS 10D:

I bought this lens, because it was testet at photozone.de pretty good, and I thought could replace the Kit of my 350D without any lack of quality. I have the SIGMA 18-125 now since about 8 months and shot more than 1000 photos with the lens.

Of course the zoom range seems to be very useful. Wide Angel to medium tele (200mm equivalent), at a price of about 200 €, with a quality that should be as good as the quality of the Canon 18 - 55 II kit lens.

The build quality of the lens seems to be really much higher than the one from the Canon kit lens. The manual focus ring ist much better to grab, and there are no parts shakeing. But the lens zooms itself out or in when holding in an angel of more than 70° down or up, that's very disturbing.

So far the good sides of the lens. The quality of the images aren't really good. Especially at the wide end I hd pretty much of barrel distortion, and strong vignetting that is disturbing even on normal small prints. The resolution is good in the center and semi-good at the corners from 18 - 60 mm, above the center remains semi-good but the corners really got pretty bad.
CAs I had always with this lens, and that more than with any lens I owend before.

But the biggest problem for me is that the lens often doesn't find the correct focus, even in light daylight I have pics with front- or backfocus. Shooting series in the "AI SERVO" mode is impossible, I almost don't get any sharp image from that series.

Sorry for that lens, it look really good and I expected a lot from it, but it was a big dissapiontment.

I bought this lens, because it was testet at photozone.de pretty good, and I thought could replace the Kit of my 350D without any lack of quality. I have the SIGMA 18-125 now since about 8 months and shot more than 1000 photos with the lens.

Of course the zoom range seems to be very useful. Wide Angel to medium tele (200mm equivalent), at a price of about 200 €, with a quality that should be as good as the quality of the Canon 18 - 55 II kit lens.

The build quality of the lens seems to be really much higher than the one from the Canon kit lens. The manual focus ring ist much better to grab, and there are no parts shakeing. But the lens zooms itself out or in when holding in an angel of more than 70° down or up, that's very disturbing.

So far the good sides of the lens. The quality of the images aren't really good. Especially at the wide end I hd pretty much of barrel distortion, and strong vignetting that is disturbing even on normal small prints. The resolution is good in the center and semi-good at the corners from 18 - 60 mm, above the center remains semi-good but the corners really got pretty bad.
CAs I had always with this lens, and that more than with any lens I owend before.

But the biggest problem for me is that the lens often doesn't find the correct focus, even in light daylight I have pics with front- or backfocus. Shooting series in the "AI SERVO" mode is impossible, I almost don't get any sharp image from that series.

Sorry for that lens, it look really good and I expected a lot from it, but it was a big dissapiontment.

Taking a trip west with a new Pentax K100D. Not wanting to carry a lot of equipment, picked up this piece for it's range and was pleasantly surprised by sharpness and quickness of focus. It did all I asked. I could wish for no more.

Oct 26, 2006

_vx_OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 21, 2006Location: NorwayPosts: 0

Review Date: Aug 21, 2006

Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 1

Pros:

Useful zoom-range. Cheap.

Cons:

Unable to produce sharp images...

I had some expectations to this lens. It seems like a very useful zoom-range for a walking-around-all-day type of lens. That doesn't help when it's not able to produce sharp images. My copy didn't even get close to being sharp.

I did a comparative test with this lens and my Canon EF-S 18-55 lens (Canon kit lens). The Canon kit lens was not only better, it was so much better I could hardly believe it. The Canon kit lens is of course itself not a very high quality lens.

I might have been "unlucky" to get a bad copy, but then that does seem to happen a lot with Sigma lenses, reading other people's experiences. If you're planning to buy this lens, you should ideally try it before buying, or at least make sure you can return it and get your money back. If you get a copy as bad as I did, you will not be happy with it. Ever.

As for me, this was my first Sigma lens, and probably also the last. At least for quite some time...

I wanted to purchase a lens that will replace the Rebel XT kit. After doing the research, I came up with 3 candidates:

EF 17-40L
EF-s 17-85
Sigma 18-125mm

I finally went with the Sigma for the price and range, after doing the research on here and on Photozone.de. I bought the lens used/in mint condition from eBay and I paid 220 shipped.

This is a great walk-around lens for my application. I do a lot of hiking and I needed something that will cover a good range so I dont have to bring too many lens. As an amateaur, the image quality is great and the image is pretty sharp at wide open. My lens does not have the AF problem like others have mentioned here but it did miss couple times at 18mm and 125mm. Vignetting is noticeable at 18mm wide open but they can be easily fixed on photoshop.

The build quality is good and the lens weights a bit heavier than the kit. It does not feel like a piece of plastic in my hand. The zoom and focus rings are big and easy to hold, but they are a bit loose. Anyways, nothing really to complain at this price.

thx for reading

Jul 14, 2006

mrcolin2uOfflineImage Upload: On

Registered: Jun 30, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 1427

Review Date: Jun 29, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8

Pros:

Good focal range,price, image quality.

Cons:

AF often hunts in low light.

I bought this lens instead of a kit lens and have do not regret my decision.
It produces very sharp images but does tend to hunt in AF in low light. I bought a Canon 35mm f/2 for indoors.
I will definitely be keeping this one.

Has a problem focusing at 18-24mm. Must use MF for wide end...sharp the rest of the way though. Focus ring doesn't have enough play. Takes less than 50 degrees of radial movement to go from 0.5 meters to infinity. (it's very sensitive....hard to manually focus)

As noted by a previous reviewer, my copy also has a focusing problem from 18-24ish mm. So for the wide end, I have to manually focus and take several shots while moving the focus ring a tad each time...just in case. Not such a big deal since I'm usually not in a hurry when taking wide angle shots. The rest of the way out to 125mm is sharp though. Focus speed isn't it's strong point and the FM's sound leaves something to be desired. Not too bad though.

Build is near EX-like. Weighs about 1lb. Very matte finish to match my black XT's finish. Zoom ring is smooth but the focus ring is too smooth (for MF). Could be just a copy issue. Of course, included petal hood (4 free!) is always a PLUS!

For about $120.00 more ($360), you could get the Sigma 17-70. For about $150.00 ($390), the Sigma 24-70 f2.8. Both lenses have great reviews/feedback regarding IQ. The 24-70 is MUCH larger/heavier, has no wide end, only 70mm, but it does have fast, constant f/2.8 (which is useless UNLESS you take a lot of indoor/night shots) The 17-70 is about the same size as the 18-125, has 1mm better wide, only 70mm long end, but has f/2.8 at 17mm (and only 17mm).

But for the price, it's hard to beat this lens! One word: versatility. 18-125mm is great! Ideal walkaround range in my opinion. It would be perfect (for the price, mind you) if it didn't have focusing issues on the wide end.

May 15, 2006

photodave70OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: May 6, 2006Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: May 6, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $200.00
| Rating: 8

Pros:

Price - Zoom Range - Value

Cons:

Slow & noisy focus

This lens, like all other lenses, is a compromise, and as such, it does a great job for what it is designed to do. Anyone who tries to compare this lens to other lenses that are NOT in the same class or kidding themselves. I have tried several lenses in several mounts, and I have to say that this lens fits my personal needs very nicely, and even in prints up to 12x18 inches you would be hard pressed to tell which lens/camera combo took which photo.

But here is the bottom line. Yes, this lens does not focus as fast as a USM/HSM/AF-S lens, nor is it as quiet. However, the 18-125 (28-200mm equivalent) zoom range is awesome since it reduces the number of lenses changes I make on my 20d, which results in less sensor dust and fewer sensor cleanings.

I plan to supplement this lens with the 10-20 and 135-400, giving me an effective focal range of 16-640mm in only 3 lenses!

Considering the price, the build quality is good, and I feel like this lens is a significant improvement over the 18-55 Canon "kit" lens, if not entirely from an optical standpoint, from a complete package standpoint it is an excellent alternative - and I even like it better than the 17-85 USM IS lens I previously owned.

May 6, 2006

Lani7OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 30, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 5

Review Date: May 5, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated

Pros:

Looks to me as if the canon is a bit sharper.

Cons:

The cost of the canon is a lot more than the Sigma lens

Good side by side photos. Where did you take these photos, looks like it may be in Oahu Hawaii.

May 5, 2006

ilindOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 11, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 2

Review Date: Apr 25, 2006

Recommend? |
Price paid: Not Indicated

Pros:

Compared to Canon 17-85, the Sigma is smaller, lighter, compact, with solid build and very reasonable price.

Cons:

Focus is a bit noisy, still zoom ring on my sample.

I've now had a chance to compare this lens with the Canon 17-85mm IS zoom, which is about the closest comparable lens to replace the digital rebel kit lens.